Bag closing apparatus



J. J. NEUMA-N' 2,299,423-

BAG CLOSING APPARATUS' Filed May 20, 1939 4 Sheeis-Shqet 1 Oct. 20, 1942. J. J. NEUMAN BAG CLOSING APPARATUS Filed May 20, 1939 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 hwN llnllllll a m 0 V w 0 m a J 4 w ATTORNEY Ot. 270 1942. J J NEUMAN BADG CLOSING APPARATUS 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed May 20, 1939 ll/VEATOR [400 6 fjli'zzmarz By C f y fi I M ATTORNEY BAG CLOS ING APPARATUS Filed May 20, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 W 1 54 70,? 10 J'aw .Z Vezzmam A) ATTORNAY Patented Oct. 20, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BAG CLOSING APPARATUS Jacob J. Neuman, South Salem, N.-Y., assignmto United States Patent Development and Royalty Company, South Salem, N. Y., a company of New York Application May 20, 1939, Serial N0. 274,687

'aClaims.

This invention relates to bag closing apparatus and more especially to auxiliary equipment for use with a bag sewing machine as will be more fully pointed out below and comprises additions and improvements to the disclosures of my Patent Number 1,823,283 and copending application Serial Number 157,480, filed August 5, 1937, now

bags. Another object is to provide a conveyor forv moving the bag through the sewing head during the stitching operation, and means for reversing it when a bag consisting of an inner liner and an outer jacket is used so that the liner and jacket may be sewed separately on the same sewing machine, thus reducing the amount of equipment needed and speeding up the operation .as the operator need not shift from one machine to another to perform the two operations.

A further object is to provide means for synchronizing the speed of the sewing machine with the speed of the conveyor so that the conveyor does not move the bag through the machine either faster or slower than the bag is being sewed and to provide means for maintaining this synchronism when it is desired to change the length of the stitch.

The invention is particularly applicable to bag filling and sewing devices for use in handling granular Or pulverulent substances. Such devices are useful in packaging sugar, for example, into sacks or bags. The sugar is fed from a suitable reservoir to a weighing device. Charges of the proper weight are delivered from the weighing device into the mouth of a bag supported over a filling chute. When the full charge is placed in the bag, the bag is removed to a sewing machine which closes the mouth of the bag. The sewing machine is adjusted to engage the bag at the proper height to sew the correct portion of the bag. Since bags of difierent sizes and heights are used, the sewing machine must have some provision for vertical adjustability.

Furthermore, the sewing machine must be motor driven and provision must be made to render the drive mobile with the machine.

The heavy, filled bags are carried through the sewing machine on a conveyor which must, of course, be synchronized in speed with the sewing machine. In addition to this, some bags require closer stitches than others to close them effective ly and so the conveyor and sewing machine must be variable as to speed.

Another feature to be considered is that, for certain purposes, double walled bags are used and the two walls must be sewed separately. Formerly two separate sewing operations were requisite and two machines were'usually em-- ployed. The present invention, however, provides means for controlling the conveyor and sewing machine to sew single or double walled bags at one sewing station and-without removing the bags from the conveyor. This effect is accomplished by employing a control for reversing the conveyor and rendering the sewing machine inoperative. A double walled bag is run through the machine in normal course and the inner walls sewed. Then, the conveyor is reversed and the sewing machine stopped to return the bag to the starting point. through the sewing machine again and the outer walls sewed. The control for this operation enables a single operator to work the machine from one position.

Since the conveyors and sewing machines are customarily electric motor driven, electrical controls are provided for performing the various functions. The drives are made subject to variation as to speed. Means for braking the motors is also provided.

In the drawings wherein like characters of reference refer to the same parts throughout the several views:

Figure l is a front elevation showing the invention applied to a complete bag weighing, filling and sewing installation.

Figure 2 is a horizontal section on the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a wiring diagram showing the circuits controlling the conveyor and sewing machine motors.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary end elevation of an alternate embodiment showing the sewing machine and conveyor both driven from the same motor.

Figure 5 is asection on the line 55 of Figure 4.

Figure 6 is a horizontal section showing an alternate embodiment of the sewing machine drive consisting of a variable speed device.

Thereafter, the bag is run Figure '7 is a vertical section on the line 1-1 of Figure 6.

Figure 8 is a section on the line 8-8 of Figure 6 showing the details of the variable pitch sheave.

Referring to Figure 1 of the drawings, the arrangement of the complete system is shown. A bin 250 is disposed on the floor above the filling and sewing equipment. This bin 250 may be sufficiently large to extend over several units of bag filling and sewing machines or may be associted with a single unit. Said bin 250 feeds the material through the duct-332 to the casing 3||| of the screening device which is described in detail below. After the material has been screened it is measured out in bag lots by the automatic scales 25| which are of standard construction and need not be described in detail herein, it being suihcient to say that they may be set to deliver bag lots periodically, of the desired weight and at .spaced time intervals, to the hopper 252 without attention or further manipulation by the operator. From said hopper 252 the materialis loaded into sacks or bags on the expansible bag holding members 2 l1 and 2|8 which are operated by the air cylinder 253. In the embodiment shown the tubular connection 254 of the hopper 252 has the conical portion 255 fitted thereto to which the duct 256 is connected. This leads to the intake of the small blower 251 which serves to create a partial vacuum or low pressure area in the flexible sleeve connection 258 to the ba holding members 2|! and 2|8, for thepurpose of collecting any dust or very finely divided material, which remains suspended in the sleeve connection 258 after the bag is filled. Such dust would normally seep out of the machine whenthe bag is removed and make frequent cleaning sewing machine In where it is sewed and subseqlsigntly disposed of on the conveyors 264 and 2 The cylinder253 operating'the bag holding members is supplied with air through a valve 253a. The exhaust port of the valve 2530 is connected to a pipe 253!) which carries the periodically discharged air to the sewing machine M where the current of air is directed onto the needle to clean and cool it.

Referring to Figures 1 to 3, I have shown a sewing head l6, which may be any one of several standard models now in common use for sewing bags, and which has the pulley driven through the belt l2 from the pulley ll of the motor M. The sewing head I! and the motor I4 are mounted on the plate l5 which is slidingly mounted on the columns through the bearings l6. The plate |5 has an angle bracket |8 (Figure 4) fastened thereto and the shank of a bolt l9 passes through a hole in the bracket Hi, the head l9a of the bolt l9 engaging the bracket l8. The upper portion of the bolt I3 is threaded into a nut which is in turn fastened to the horizontal cross member 2| secured to the columns I! by U-bolts 22. A handwheel 23 is secured to the shank of the bolt I! for manual rotation thereof. Since the bearings l6 of the plate [5 are free to slide vertically on the columns H, the plate IS with the motor I4 and the sewing head "III will be raised or lowered as the handwheel 23 is turned to screw the bolt l9 in the nut 20. This then forms a very simple and compact method for mounting a sewing machine and provides means for the raising and lowering of the machine so as to compensate for the variation in the height of the various types of bags which it may be desired to sew. This simple structure constitutes a great improvement over the complicated mechanisms and mounting structures now in general use for this same purpose. 1

Mounted on the floor below the sewing head I i6 is the horizontally disposed conveyor belt 25 driven by the motor 29 through a suitable reduction drive such as the pulley 26, the belt 21 and the pulley 28. A bag guiding fence or support is built along the belt '25 to hold the bags upright without additional support as they are conveyed to the sewing machine. This fence is composed of vertical posts 96 secured at their lower ends to theside members-25B of the conveyor and horizontal rails 93, 94 and 95. The control for the conveyor and sewing machine has a foot pedal 30 mounted on the lever arm 3| which is supported by the shaft 32 passing through and journaled in the members 25A and 25B of the conveyor 25. Mounted on the opposite end of the shaft 32 is the lever 33 pin connected at its outer extremity to the rod 34 linking it with the operating arm 35-of the switch box 36. The operating arm 35 is fastened to the shaft 31 operating three switches 38, 39 and 40,

shown in diagram in Fig. 3, that may be any.

standard'kind such as the tiltable mercury type. They are so disposed in angular relation to each other that they will close and open in sequence as the pedal 36 is depressed, the switch 38 closing first, the switch 39 second-and the switch 40 third. The lever arm 3| and pedal 30 are'returned to the original position by the spring 6 thus opening the switches 46, 39 and 38 in sequence. v

As seen in Fig. 3, the circuits for the control ofthe motor 29 driving the conveyor 25 and the motor l4 driving the sewing head It are supplied with energy from the line wires 4| and 42 through the circuit breakers 43 and 44 to the supply conductors 4,5 and 4a The switch as controlled by the foot pedal 30 is interposed between the wire 41 connected to thesupply conductor 46 and the wire connected to one terminal of the relay coil 49. The wire 50 leads from the other terminal of the relay coil 49 completing the circuit to the opposite supply line 45. The switch 39 connects the wire 5| from the supply line 46 to the wire 52, the relay coil 53, the wire 54, the relay contact 55 and thence through the conductor 56 to the supply conductor 45. The switch 40 controls the circuit from the supply conductor 46 through the'wire 51, the wire 58, to the relay coil 59 and thence through the wires 66 and 56 to the supply conductor 45..

' The relay coil 49 when energized operates to close the circuit from the supply line 46 to both the armature 29A and the shunt field 29B of the conveyor motor 29. The field circuit is energized from the supply conductor 46 through the wire 6|, the relay contact 62, the wire 63, the variable resistor64, to the field coils 29B of the motor 29 and thence through the wire 65, the relay contact 66 and the wire 56 to the supply conductor 45. An auxiliary circuit which the current takes when the relay contact 66 opens is provided from the motor field coils 293 through the resistor 51 to the supply conductor 45. When the relay coil 59 is not energized the circuit through the' a of fiow of current in the armature 29A is reversed the circuit now being formed from the supply conductor 45, through the wir the relay contact 52, the wire 58, the relay contact 18 andthe wire 1| to the armature 29A, thence through the wire 12, the contact 11, the wire 15, the relay coil and the wires 93 and 14 to the supply conductor 45.

14 to the supply conductor 45.

When the relay coil 49 is deenergized an auxiliary circuit or shunt across the armature 29A is closed from said armature 29A through the wire 12, the relay contact 13, the wire 58, the relay contact 89, the wire 98, the resistor 9|, the wire 92, the wire 59, the relay contact 18 and the wire 1| back to the armature 29A.

The relay coil 53 when energized operates to close the circuit from the supply line to both the armature A and the shunt field MB of the sewing machine motor l4. The field circuit is energized from the supply conductor 45 through the wir 19, the relay contact 88,the.wire 8|, and the variable resistor 82 to the field coils B and thence through the wire." to the supply conductor 45. The armature circuit is formed from the supply conductor 45, through the wire 19, the relay contact 88, and the wire 84 to the motor armature I4A'and thence through the wire 85 to the supply conductor 45. When the relay coil 53 is deenergized an auxiliary circuit or shunt across the armature A is formed through the wire 84, the contact 91, the wire 85, the resistor 81 and the wires 88 and 85 back to the armature In use, assuming that a bag has been filled and placed on the right hand end of .the conveyor 25, the operator depresses the foot pedal 38, against the bias of the spring I I5, by an amount sufficient to tilt the switch 38 to circuit closing position but not far enough to close the switches 39 and 48,

thu starting the conveyor motor 29 and moving the bag up to the sewing head l8. When the switch 38 is closed a circuit is formed from the supply conductor through the relay coil 49 7 to the supply line 45 thereby energizing said coil 49 which opens the contact 89 and closes the contact 52. Closing of the contact 52 completes the circuit from the supply line 45 through both the motor armature 29A and the field coil 293 to the supply conductor 45. Assuming that the polarity of the supply conductors 45 and.45 is such that current tends to fiow from the supply conductor 45 to the supply conductor 45, it is thus seen that the direction of the current in the armature 29A will be from the wire 12 to the wire 1|, and the motor 29 starts in such a.dir'ection as to drive the conveyor belt 25from right to left. The operator holds the pedal 38 in this position until the bag reaches the sewing head |8. He now depresses said pedal 38 by an addi-- tional amount suflicient to close the switch 39 but not the switch 48, th switch 38 merely being tilted by anadditional amount which has no effect and it remains in closed position. A circult is now completed from the supply conductor 48 through the switch 89 and the wires 5| and 52 to the relay coil 53 and fromthe supply line 45 through the relay contact 55, the wires 55 and 54, thus energizing said coil 53 and causing the contact 88 to close which, in turn, closes the circuits through both the armature A and the field coils MB. The motor |4 thus starts and operates the sewing head l8. Since the conveyor 25 is still moving the bag from right to left, the bag is moved through the sewing head l8 and is sewed.

If the bag consists of a single thickness of material the operator now releases the foot pedal 38 to the first position thus opening the switch 39 and stopping the sewing machine l8. The conveyor 25 continues to operate carrying, the bag away for subsequent disposal and moving another bag up to the sewing head l8. If, however, the bag consists of a paper or closely woven cloth liner with a heavier outer bag or jacket, it is advantageous to sew each one separately and after the liner has been sewed the operator depresses the pedal 38 by a further amount, to third position, thus closing the switch 48, as well as the switches 38 and 39 which were previously closed. An additional circuit is thus closed from the supply line 45 through the wires 51, 58 and the switch 48 to the relay coil 59 and from the supply conductor 45 through the wires 58 and 88, thereby energizing said coil 59which thereby opens the contacts 59 and 13 and closes the contacts 11 and 18. the field coils 293 in the same direction but in the armature circuit current now flows from the conductor 45 through the wire 5|, the contact 52, the wire 58, the contact 18, the wire 1| and through the armature 29A to the wire 12, the contact 11, the wire 15, the relay coil 15, the wires 93 and 14 to the supply conductor 45. Since the direction of current fiow is now through the armature 29A from the wire 1| to 12 instead of from 12 to II as before the direction of rotation is thus reversed and the motor 29 drives the conveyor 25 from left to right. Also since the relay coil 15 is now in series with the armature 29A, it is energized and opens the contacts 55 and 55. Opening the contact 55 deenergizes the relay coil 53 and stops the sewing machine I8. At the same time, the shunt is removed from the resistor 51 by the opening of contact 55 thereby allowing less current to fiow in the field 29B of the motor 29 which, since it is a direct current shunt motor, thus speeds up and quickly returns the bag to the right hand side of the sewing head l8, as viewed in Fig; 1. The operator now releases the pedal 38 to the second position where switches 38 and 39 are closed and 48 is open thus returning the circuits to their former condition with the conveyor motor 29 operating the conveyor 25 from right to left and the sewing machine |8 sewing the outer bag. The pedal 38 is then released to the number one position where the conveyor 25 runs but not the sewing machine 8 and the bag moves on for subsequent disposal and a new bag is brought up to be sewed.

In order that the motors I4 and 29 will stop quickly, it is desirable that they have brakes. These may be of the standard solenoid operated type with a mechanical brake on the shaft of each motor or may be of the dynamic type which I have shown. When the relay coil 49 is deenergized, opening. the circuit to the armature 29A and the field 29B of the motor 29, the contact 89 closes thereby shunting the resistor 9| across the armature 29A, which quickly dissipates Current now flows through the energy stored therein and stops said motor 29. Likewise when the relay coil 53 is deenergized the contact 91 shunts the resistor 01 across the armature MA thereby bringing the motor I4 to a quick stop in a like manner.

The speed of both motors I4 and 29 may be controlled individually by means of the variable resistors 82 and 64. In the past, it has been the practice to drive both the conveyor 25 carrying'the bag and the sewing head I from a single motor, the gears or belts having the proper ratio to drive the conveyor 25 at such speed that it will match the speed of the sewing machine I0, the bag thus neither getting ahead of or behind the progress of the stitching. This system however, does not provide for the case where the length of the stitch must be altered, which is often the case when several types of bags are to be sewed. Also it has the disadvantage of using a complicated drive for the sewing machine I0 since provision must be made for raising and lowering the sewing head I0 without dis connecting the drive in order to accommodate bags of varying heights and the conveyor must be operable independently of the sewing machine. However, by using the two motors I4 and 29 the drive is very simple and therefore more reliable and the speed of the conveyor 25 may be adjusted by the rheostat 64 to match any length of stitch or speed of sewing which may be used. Furthermore, it is because of this feature that it is easily possible to back up the bag after the liner has been sewe'd and sew the outer covering on the same machine.

Where constant speed motors are used for driving the sewing machine I0 and the conveyor 25 field rheostat control cannot be used, I have shown, referring to Figures 6, 7 and 8, an alternate method of varying the speed of the sewing machine l0. The motor sheave in this case is of the variable pitch type and consists of the two halves I20 and Ill keyed to the motor shaft the part I20 being fixed in relation to the shaft by the pin I22 and the part I2I beingfree to slide up and down on said motor shaft. The collar I23 bears against the thrust bearing I25 which is seated in the sheave piece I2I and, when the handwheel I25-is turned actuating the lever I26, the. collar I23 moves the movable half I2I of the sheave nearer or further from the half I20 thus varying th pitch diameter of said sheave. An idler pulley I21 is provided to keep the belt I2 taut at all times.

Due to the fact that so many existing machines have the single motor drive I have devised an alternate method of reversing the conveyor 25, without running the sewing machine I0, by mechanical means as shown in Figs. 4 and 5. The

. motor 98 drives the conveyor 25 through thebelt 99 and also drives the countershaft I00 supported on the bearings IOI through the belt I02 and the pulley I03. The countershaft I00 also has thereon the pulley I04 with which the belt I05 engages and drives the sewing machine head I0 through the pulleys I06, I01, I08 and I09. The pulley I00 is mounted on the pivoted arm H0 to which is fastened a take-up spring II which keeps the belt I05 taut regardless of the height to which the sewing head I0 is moved on the columns Ill. The pulley I03 (Fig. 5) embodies a free wheeling clutch and has a hollow hub II2 in which are the rollers H3 and the ratchet shaped piece IEO keyed to the shaft I00. When the shaft I00 turns counterclockwise as viewed in Fig. 5 the rollers I I3 wedge between the ratchet planes and the inside surface of the hub H2 and the pulley I04 turns and drives the sewing machine head I0 through the belt I05. When the shaft I00 turns clockwise the rollers H3 cannot wedge and the shaft I00, the ratchet III, and the rollers H3 turn freely within the hub II2 of the pulley I04 and the sewing machine I0 is not driven. The sewing machine I0 therefore operates only when the motor 98 is driving the conveyor 25 in.

a forward direction andif the motor 98 is reversed the bag may therefore be returned for the second sewing operation, the sewing machine being automatically disengaged.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, the several objects and advantages of my invention and the method of their accomplishment will be clear,- ly manifest, it being understood that the particular constructions set forth are susceptible of modification in various ways without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for closing a filled bag comprising, in combination, a conveyor for moving a bag,

a motor for driving said conveyor, sewing means including a separate motor and positioned adjacent said conveyor to sew a bag thereon, current supply means, first means including a switch for connecting said conveyor motor with said current supply,,second means including a second switch for connecting said sewing motor with current supply, third means including a switch for deenergizing said sewing motor, a circuit controlled by said last named switch for regeneratively braking said sewing motor, and a separate circuit controlled by said last named switch for reversing the connections of the conveyor motor to the current supply to reverse the conveyor and for reducing the field current to accelerate the conveyor.

2. Apparatus of the class described comprising in combination, a motor-driven sewing machine operable to close the mouth of a filled ba a conveyor for feeding the filled bag through said sewing machine, a reversible motor for driving said conveyor selectively in bag sewing direction and'in reverse direction, current supply means, first means for energizing said reversible motor to driv said'conveyor in bag sewing direction, second means for energizing the motor of said sewing machine, third means for energizing said reversible motor to drive said conveyor in the re-. verse direction, means actuated by said third means for de-energizing the motor of said sewing machine, and separate means actuated by said third means for accelerating said reversible motor to increase the speed of said conveyor during reverse movement of the latter.

3. Apparatus of the class described comprising in combination, a motor-driven sewing machine operable to close the mouth of a filled bag, a conincluding a circuit-closing member for energizing,

said reversible motor to drive said conveyor in the reverse direction, means actuated by said last named circuit-closing member for die-energizing the motor of said sewing machine, separate means actuated by said last named circuit-closing member for accelerating said reversible motor to increase the speed of said conveyor during reverse movement of the latter, and means for individually regulating the speed of said conveyor and sewing machine motors whereby the relative speeds of said conveyor and said sewing machine may be adjusted to accommodate stitches of varyin lengths.

4. In apparatus for use with a sewing machine capable of producing stitches of different lengths having a variable speed motor for driving said sewing machine, a conveyor for moving diirerent types of filled bags requiring different lengths 01 15 sewing machine and also to maintain synchronization of the relative speeds of said sewing machine and said conveyor to accommodate stitches of diil'erent lengths for the closure 01' bags 01' diflerent types.

JACOB J. NEUMAN. 

